"I don't like keeping words like 'revenge,' 'grudges,' and 'hatred' on my lips. Only cowards use literary flourishes to disguise their incompetence and language to deconstruct their fury... But I am now a necromancer in an alien land, with no past and no future. Corpses are not only my materials, but also my final resting place."
The necromancer said coldly, "I don't care about long-term interests. My mood is my sole criterion for action."
"Plainly obvious. From the fact that you eat moon sugar every day, anyone can see you only want to live a short life." Igola raised an eyebrow. "You want revenge on Annan?"
"Perhaps." Harvey smacked his lips and jammed his knuckles into his mouth to gnaw on them. "Mainly depends on my mood at the time. If I really run out of candy then, perhaps just a sliver of resentment would be enough to ignite my cold stream of fire... By the way, the night I left Shattered Lake Prison, I swore I'd turn anyone who wants to be my boss into my favorite kind of cute subordinate."
"I'm telling you this not to invite you a hundred days in advance to join my revenge plan, but merely hoping you'll at least stand by and watch when the time comes. I don't want to fight you. Not only are you both troublesome, but... I really don't want to."
Yaxiu blinked. "To be honest, I'm surprisingly a bit touched. After all, the first time we met, you were discussing how my livor mortis would look more aesthetic if it formed a certain way..."
At the mention of this, Harvey perked right up. "If you're willing to let me make a few preparations, I guarantee that no matter when you die, beautiful black roses will blossom across the surface of your body..."
"Don't worry, necromancer," Igola said coldly. "I won't oppose you, but I won't join your foolish revenge either. I don't deny I still harbor resentment right now, but if Annan can offer sufficient compensation in the days to come, it's not like I can't let this 'minor conflict' go."
"Moods are the most unreliable things after all. Even enemies who once gnashed their teeth at each other might turn into..." Igola paused, suddenly changing the subject. "Speaking of which, Harvey, aren't you afraid this room has listening devices? Your declaration of revenge might have already been overheard by Annan."
"Ah, right. I'm done for." Harvey smacked his head. "Looks like I've really eaten too much moon sugar..."
"What about you?" Igola looked at Yaxiu. "Do you want revenge on Annan?"
"Knowing we might be bugged, you're still egging me on to badmouth someone behind her back?" Yaxiu remarked wryly. Still, he tilted his head in thought. "To be honest, rather than revenge, what I feel most is curiosity."
"Curiosity?"
"Curiosity about how she's actually going to use us," Yaxiu said. "Being a chess player allows you to control your own destiny, of course, but if you can only be a pawn, can't you also enjoy a front-row seat to the player's grand maneuvers across the board?"
"But first she sold you to the Four Pillar Cult, and then used tricks to force you into a slave contract. Don't you feel any resentment?"
"Resentment? I suppose there is some, but when the butler bought me boxers just now, a lot of my resentment melted away." Yaxiu sighed. "I'm actually an honest man with very weak willpower, easily bought off with petty favors. To tell you the truth, I'm quite worried right now that Annan might use a honeypot trap on me..."
Igola burst out laughing. "If Financier heard you call yourself an honest man, he'd probably be angry enough to crawl out of the sixth level of Hell."
Harvey asked, "So you don't plan on getting revenge?"
"If I truly want revenge, it won't be over the resentment from day one," Yaxiu said, looking down at the neon night view outside. "It will be over the disappointment accumulated over the next 101 days."
"As for that contract, I don't really care all that much."
Yaxiu turned his head to look at them. "Do you think a mere contract can bind me?"
Hearing such arrogant and brazen words, Igola instinctively wanted to sneer, but looking at Yaxiu's half-lit, half-shadowed profile, for some reason the words stuck in his throat. He seemed awed.
Was it the sheer persuasiveness carried by this cult leader's past record?
Was it the undeniable strength this prison-breaker possessed?
Or was it... because he had deeply realized that this man named Yaxiu Heath was truly the most terrifying among them?
The wickedness wrapped beneath that human skin would become a gale sweeping through everything, turning the windmill named calamity—
"I happen to be a national grandmaster of getting cold feet, a professional slacker, an annual subscriber to the corporate toilet, a platinum-tier salary thief. Hopeless at work, champion at taking a dump," Yaxiu said leisurely. "Relying purely on a contract to make me work is underestimating me far too much."
"..." Igola gently slapped his own face.
"Wait, Yaxiu, besides the 101-day contract, you also have a lifetime contract with that little girl," Harvey reminded him. "Are you ready to be a father?"
At the mention of this, Yaxiu's face darkened completely. By now, how could he not know that the little girl Lisi had targeted him precisely because she saw he was soft-hearted, which was why she dared to make those two outrageous vows?
If it were Annan or Igola, people raised on blood-soaked bread, they would never have signed such an absurdly one-sided contract with her. Only a miserable corporate slave like Yaxiu, thoroughly accustomed to being exploited by unethical corporations with unscrupulous contracts, would be momentarily duped by her act of weaponized cuteness. Before he could react, he had been trapped hook, line, and sinker.
The reason Annan was willing to let Yaxiu sign the contract with Lisi was also because she couldn't be bothered to carry two more shackles. Although she could forbid Lisi from making excessive demands, the fewer contractual commitments one had, the better.
Igola gave Harvey a strange look. "Do you still not know what 'Daddy' means?"
"I know," Harvey shrugged. "Isn't it fun to tease Yaxiu with it, though?"
Seeing Yaxiu's thoroughly dejected expression, Igola cleared his throat and said with feigned casualness, "The contract system here is different from the Blood Moon's, but Annan couldn't have used any particularly grand contract ritual. At most, it can only place a curse on a Two-Winged Sorcerer. If you give me some time to study it, maybe I can—"
Knock, knock.
The young butler opened the door and said politely, "The young lady requests your presence in the hall to discuss matters. If you would like to rest for the night first, it can also be postponed until tomorrow."
"I don't even know whether I'll be selling my body or my soul next, so there's no way I can sleep," Igola said coldly. "Lead the way."
Upon second thought, he decided not to make light promises to Yaxiu just yet—Rule Six of the Swindler: do not reveal a thing before it succeeds.
Unless it's a mark you intend to deceive, never give away hope lightly.
Following behind the butler, Yaxiu was not thinking about their impending fate.
The reason he had accepted his new identity so quickly and was willing to accept Annan's temporary leadership, aside from his traditional adaptive survival skill of 'well, since we're already here,' was also because he had suddenly gained a strange new profession:
[Profession: Everlasting Walker / Unemployed Idler]
[Profession Traits: +5 to Luck checks under normal conditions; -50 to Luck checks at critical moments. More prone to triggering mysterious events, more prone to causing complications, more prone to drawing the gaze of destiny, more prone to triggering critical failures. Sorcery spirits have reduced appetites; feeding requirements reduced by 50%.]
Chapter 191